The benevolent banner., 1887-09-03

tldu 1OfllIuue, duu luG COIOI0u NJ. L, |
church, and colored Baptist churches |
were outgroWths of the same spirit.
1t was not the colored Christians,
but the white Christians who, to their
eternal shame and damnation, drew
the line, and continue to draw it even
unto this hour. Turn to the Mason
ic, the Odd Fellows and the Knights
of Pythias orders-did cvlored men
draw the line in these? Did they set
up colored lodges all over the country
because they did not care 10 frater-
nize with the white order? The an
swer can be inferred when it is stated
that white Masons, white Odd Fell
lows and white Knights of Pythias
even at this hour refuse to fraternize
with or to recognize the legality or
regularity Of the orders their actions
caused colored men to establish. Do
colored people desire separate Grand
Lodges in the Temperance Order?
Did they ask for such? No! But the
British and American Good Templars
reunited last week at conference at
Saratoga, n. Y, and the only condi-
ton on which the American order
would consent to reunion was that
the British order would acknowledge
that its action of eleven years ago in
seeding from the order on the color
question was odious and unsound in
principle. So that the second section
of the article of agreement provides
that in any jurisdiction of white and
colored Templars there must be sepa-
rate Grand Lodges, provided either
side insists upon it; and we know the
whites, especially those Of the South,
will insist on it every time, the same
as they do now in church conferences,
in all charitable and philanthropical
works, educational and other. We
do not object; we simply seek to make
it plain that we have not been the
ones heretofore to draw the color
line. But we have this to say: We
advise all colored Templars to draw
out Of this reunited order. If they
must be separated because they are
colored, let them stand up like men
in their own order, where color will
not be a brand of Odium; let them
form an order Of their own, the same
as they haYe churches Of their own.
The eternal compromises OF our man
hood and self respect true Of the past
must cease. Right is right, and we
should at no time or under any cir
cumstances compromise upon any
thing but absolute right. If the white
men cannot rescue our drunkards
and evangelize our sinners except by
,insulting us, let him keep away from
us. His contamination under such
conditions does us more harm than
good. It is not we who have drawn
the color line That is pure nOnsence.
TAKE OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS;
take the schools and colleges through
ont the land-who draw the color
1ine in these? Is there colored
school of any sort in the South where
white applicant would be refused
admission on account Of his color:
Not one! Is there white school IL
the South where colored applicant
wonld not be refused admission on
account of his color? Not one! The
thing IS plain. The white man draws
the color line in everything he has
ANYTHING to do with. He is saturated
with the black mud of prejudice anc
intolerance. What political party
has ever treated colored voters a.
other than voting dummies and col
ored leaders as other than convenlen
tools? We have controlled mllllol
votes annually for twenty years, an'
what have we to show for them
Where are the colored men who hav
heen honored above their fellows o.
the men we have placed IN hlg'
nlaces? One or two diplomatic place
nf the third class and few mlno
nlaces now mostly covered By Civ
Service rules fill up the list. II
elective officers do not count herr
they were the result OF our ow
votes. Where are the laws anYwhei
outside the three constitutions
amendments enacted to insure Us l
our rights? Where are they: "
protest that we have squandered OF
voting strength and our brain pow'
-, .,,l, Wa pr0tpst that "